Faith Under Fire by Matthew Archbold

Faith Under Fire
Dramatic Stories of Christian Courage by Matthew Archbold

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The stories in this book reveal a world that can seem increasingly dark, and I fear that things will grow darker still in the years to come. And yet these stories also reveal what happens when darkness encounters light: The light is not extinguished at all. It just appears brighter in the advancing darkness. ...

This is not a book about a gunman who attacked a schoolhouse; it's about the little girl who sacrificed herself for her classmates. This book isn't about abortion, but about the doctor who dedicated his life to helping women with crisis pregnancies. And this isn't about the radical terrorists who kill, but about those who choose love over life.

This is a book about hope and faith and light, and while it includes some terrible events, in the end it is, I believe, a hopeful book about love in a world that's often surprised and sometimes even opposed to those who show it.

Part of what attracted me to this book was the fact that these are modern people, not canonized saints but saints-in-training as we might say. It has not only the dramatic stories mentioned above but those about a man who prays the rosary, a baker who loves his work, and a basketball player getting to play her first NCAA game. Some stories made me cry and some seemed all too familiar, but all of them inspired me.

Matthew Archbold has a real talent for telling these stories with sincerity but without pathos. He helps us see how these stories connect with our own lives, whether through his introductions or the three discussion questions that close each chapter. And that makes us realize that we too are saints-in-training, called to stand up for our faith under fire, even if just in the very small ways that present themselves in everyday life.

Faith Under Fire is everything the author mentions in his introduction quoted above. Read it.